Steve McQueen & Paul Newman
A few days ago I was talking with my daughter and a friend of ours and I happened to mention Steve McQueen in our conversation because the Nova Theatre will be showing his motorcycle documentary “On Any Sunday,” this Sunday afternoon. My heart almost stopped when she said she did not know who he was! How can this be? Am I that old? No, that can’t be the problem. It is just an oversight on the younger generations’ part that they do not know who this man was. So I have decided to enlighten these younger generations on the “King of Cool.” You either liked him or you hated him, but you couldn’t deny he ruled the movie box office in the 1960s and 1970s with films like “The Sand Pebbles,” “The Thomas Crown Affair,” “Bullitt,” “LeMans,” “The Getaway,” “The Magnificent Seven” and “The Great Escape,” to name a few. He was also a motorcycle and racecar enthusiast. And he did his own driving stunts in his movies whenever he could. Now if this information has peaked your interest on some level, be it the movies or his love for racing, this might help—Lightning McQueen from the Disney movie franchise “Cars” is named in memory of Pixar animator Glenn McQueen, but we of a certain generation know better, no matter what they say! ;)
Which brings me to actor Paul Newman, who voiced the character Doc Hudson, the 1951 fabulous Hudson Hornet, in “Cars 2” and “Cars 3.” This man served as a gunner in WWII before becoming an actor. While he was an actor, he became a racecar driver. Then while he was a racecar driver, he became a philanthropist who donated a third of a billion dollars to charity. And while he was doing all of that he married actress Joanne Woodward and the two spent over 50 years together. Plus, did I mention his piercing blue eyes? Check out his movies “Cool Hand Luke,” “The Long, Hot Summer,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “The Hustler,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” and “The Color of Money.”
Since I am learning, much to my dismay, that there are people living on this earth today who do not know these actors, please check out this list if you are one of those people I am referring to. They made great movies and relied only on their acting abilities (and rugged good looks) to make excellent films. They are Errol Flynn, Victor Mature, Gary Cooper, Robert Mitchem, Burt Lancaster, Marlon Brando, Robert Redford, James Stewart, Laurence Olivier and Gregory Peck.
